The Status Quo: Thoughts on the Flaws of the Wizarding World

[gehayi]

ignipes wrote a marvelous essay about the Harry Potter series vs. actual subversive fantasy that alters or transcends the genre. Go and read it, for it is brilliant.

I concur with ignipes--Rowling's world is not subversive. It is a traditional battle between good and evil, with Harry on one side and Voldemort on the other. The general belief of the wizarding

Comments

Yep - this paragraph is tremendous

[jazzypom]

Voldemort is only a symptom. He is taking advantage of much that is already wrong. Unless these things are revamped and restructured after the war with Voldemort is over, the sickness will merely go ever on. And, most likely, another Dark Lord will arise to take advantage of the wizarding world's flaws. Again.

Yes, he is. You can't blame Tommy for taking advantage. If I were an evil overlord, I would.

The fact that Remus can actually identify with the werewolves is actually quite telling, I think. For all his association with the wizarding society (from the view of the werewolves) he's denied the basic rights of a livilihood and the rest of it.

[starrysummer]

I definitely agree with this here. It's interesting that she's created such a whimsical, fun world based on such an authoritarian society. Selfishly speaking, I kind of like that, since it gives you so much to play with in fanfiction.

[fernwithy]

While I concur that there are things needing fixing in the wizarding world (and I think Rowling is aware of that and it comes up repeatedly), I don't understand why in the world people are so anxious to say their work is "subversive." Why is that a compliment? I mean, it's not necessarily an insult, but it strikes me as a neutral sort of thing. Sigh. Of course HP isn't subversive.

[finmagik]

Very good.

[a_t_rain]

Actually, I think it's blindingly obvious that you're supposed to question the status quo about most of these things, even though Rowling hasn't spelled it out in black and white. The characters may not regard these aspects of the wizarding world as problems, but the text certainly presents most of them as such, and I think all the pointers we've got suggest that the end of the series is going to have to incorporate social reform on a grand scale. I don't see how it could possibly be any clearer, for example, that the Ministry has created more Death Eaters than Voldemort ever did, and unless things change the next generation is just going to have a new Dark Lord to contend with.

Couple of specific nitpicks:

And no one, not even Hermione, ever says that the Kiss is immoral.

Lupin comes very close -- I'd say "Do you really think anyone deserves that?" is a question designed to guide Harry toward the answer "no," even if he doesn't come to that conclusion immediately.

Hermione is the only one who thinks that house elves deserve